China's Jilin Province, which was hit by devastating floods in July, is still in the process of rebuilding, but the provincial government has promised that "every person who was affected will have a house to live in before winter comes."

In the city of Jilin's Fengman district, around 4,100 houses were damaged or destroyed, affecting more than 32,000 people.

Now, two new areas totaling 62,000 square meters have been set aside for residential space for flood victims. And construction work on 17 buildings is complete, and more than 860 households are ready to move in.

The local government says it is paying the heating costs this winter and next year's property management fees.

In addition, 136 families have finished rebuilding their damaged houses and so that 3,000 such houses have been repaired.

Elsewhere in the province, the Yongji county government has spent nearly 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) on several dozen rebuilding projects. One of them, a new residential community, has taken just three months to complete. This is seen as nothing short of a miracle, local government officials say.

Some 2,200 houses in Yongji are still undergoing repairs, and more than half are near completion.

In the same time, at least 100 km of roads have been repaired, four bridges reinforced, and 61 temporary bridges arranged.

In one of the worst hit villages, Nuanmu, 33 houses were destroyed. But, now an entirely new residential area with new infrastructure has been built. This is the result of a 600,000-yuan combined effort by the government, the Jilin Chengda Hongsheng Co Ltd, and the Beijing Jinyuanbao Industry and Trade Company.

The village committee office, which was destroyed, is under construction.

Every household was given a 174,000-yuan rebuilding subsidy from the provincial and local governments.

Quick response

In Jiaohe, a city in eastern Jilin, less than half a month after the disaster, the government there started its own new housing project, using eco-friendly designs and cost-efficient construction materials.

All new houses have been turned over to people affected by the floods, and communication, transportation and water facilities have been restored.

In nearby Dunhua, the city government spent nearly 40 million yuan on two new villages that cover a total of 270,000 square meters. They are designed for more than 400 families.

The larger of the two, Yaodian New Village, which was completed in about two months, followed the design of the previous village, with a 220,000-sq-m area planned for 300 households.

Chen Tongshuang, a former Party chief of Yaodian, had this to say, "Now that we have new houses, we're more confident about the future."

The village of Mingyan, in the Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, which has a river running through it and mountains around it, had already been chosen as a water conservation site before the floods.

Since it was going to be inundated, the local government decided just to rebuild it in another place. Now some new blocks of Korean-style housing have appeared.

"I've lived here for 44 years," said Shen Yingshu, a 66-year-old villager who lost her house to the flood. "My children asked me to move to the city, but I don't want to. I prefer living here with my old neighbors.

"And now we have a new village and everything's convenient. We're grateful to the government."

Village officials in Xiaotaipingtun also decided to escape the flood area by moving from the north side of the mountain to the south side.

An entirely new village was available by late August, with a floor space of more than 1,800 square meters. Its plan also includes a main road, fields for crops, a solar power system and biogas tanks, for a total cost of 1.8 million yuan.

"The construction team worked from dawn to dusk every day," said Sun Lianfu, a villager. "They completed the houses in just one month. I never imagined they could work so fast."

The city of Baishan in southeastern Jilin planned to rebuild more than 10,000 houses and repair another 20,000 at a total cost of 750 million yuan. Reconstruction work on nearly 9,000 of them, covering an area of 445,000 sq m, has begun.

The Baishan government is also planning low-cost housing for about 1,740 households. Their industries suffered a lot in the flood, with almost all of the 178 industrial enterprises forced to halt operations, resulting in 625 million yuan in losses.

After 180 million yuan was injected into the economy, production at 102 enterprises was restarted.

(China Daily November 17, 2010)